Council financial mismanagement impacting on Canterbury residents

Council financial mismanagement impacting on Canterbury residents

So many of the serious problems afflicting Canterbury at the moment, such as crime, anti-social behaviour, rats, litter, filth and pollution, could be solved with more investment and yet the council have consistently ignored the fundamental problems and merely papered over the cracks. Rat traps and voluntary litter collections are not the answer. Despite pleading poverty and threatening more impending cuts, the city council are spending money or diverting it to more and more projects which will have detrimental effects on its local residents.

Why spend 75 million buying the freehold of the Whitefriars when it already had effective control of it?

Why borrow 9 million a car park which goes against its own District Green Infrastructure Policy (2018-2031) and will inflict more pollution on an already toxic city?

Why did Canterbury City Council lend Kent County Cricket club 7 million pounds for its Metropolitan ground at Beckenham when it has already sold half its historic ground for housing?

How much is being spent on the Kingsmead development for a cinema and leisure complex when the hospitality industry is in decline because people can’t afford to go out as evidenced by the rapid turnover of food outlets and underuse of cinemas that currently exist.

Surely this money could be better spent to improve the health, safety and quality of life of the Canterbury resident?

Employment of good quality services to clean and collect rubbish (it only costs money)

Why should local residents have to consider locking parks and communal area when they could be enjoyed by all if adequately policed 24 hours a day (it only costs money).

Why not implement the levy on pubs, nightclubs and late-night takeaways to contribute to the cost of extra policing, which Canterbury City Council has consistently failed to do.

If the city council is serious about reducing the traffic congestion in Canterbury and improving the health of its residents, why not make travelling by bus to the city free and join up the cycle routes. This seems an ambitious plan but they said that about banning smoking in pubs and restaurants, but this has now become the norm.

This need vision, money and commitment. I have lived in Canterbury for over 30 years and I ask why is the city council mismanaging our money and treating its residents with such contempt.